Filling in the Gaps
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: I am going to take your memories and your Pokemon. You are going to get them back: those Pokemon you once owned…and only them. You do that, you'll be back on track. You capture the wrong Pokemon, and you'll be in further strife. As for why…you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?


**A/N:** written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge on the PFC. This first chapter is with prompt #006 – lost and found.

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**Filling in the Gaps  
Chapter 1**

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The things I remember…they're just information. Facts. Necessities to function in the world, but with no emotional attachment.

I suppose that means that memories are things that can be done without. Because I manage to survive a good week before someone comes along and mentions them. And even after that, they're not a necessity. I can do without.

Except I can't because now I'm even more curious than before…and I'd been curious since I woke up without them. Without my memories I mean, in the north-east corner of the Viridian Forest. The exit to Pewter City's was directly west; south-west was the exit to Viridian. South of Virdian was a quaint little town called Pallet; east of Pewter was glaring waterfront city called Cerulean. For some reason, I can make out the entire Kanto region in my head, know exactly where I am – but not _who_ I am: not a single shred of personal information.

Knowing where I am is useful though. I can avoid the Kakuna nests with ease, knowing the breeding patterns of Beedril, where they liked to lay their eggs, and where they liked to colonise before their final evolution stage. I can avoid the Pikachu jam-packed with electricity, and the Butterfree that scatter stun spore and poison. I can find trees filled with perfectly ripe berries and apples and acorns before the bug-catchers can pick them dry – and even, sometimes, before the natives, the people who've lived there their entire lives, arrive.

I don't know why I know all this, where I learnt it from. I also don't know why I can't remember who I am, or any personal details at all. And I wondered about it. I hadn't been injured in any way as far as I could tell…and if the information inside my head was anything to go bye, I could tell quite a bit.

Still, I just hung around the first few days, just resting and thinking: planning my next move. I supposed I'd have to go to a city. Viridian might be the better choice; it was bigger, had more connections. But it was on the other side of the forest and I had nothing.

I collected supplies, thought carefully of my route out of the forest and then set off. I knew every inch of the forest, and everything about the inhabitants inside. It was only the travellers I had to worry about, and whether they caused the wild Pokemon to act unnaturally. But I saw no-one, and I had no trouble getting to the entrance of the forest.

But there's someone waiting for me.

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He's got a strange smile. Mocking almost. And triumphant. But the most important is recognition. He knows me. He recognises me.

'Who are you?' I demand. Perhaps I should have asked who _I_ was, but that's not the first question you ask a stranger. And everyone is a stranger.

'Don't you remember?' The tone is mocking too – mocking, and knowing. 'Of course not. That's…unfortunate.'

There is falsity in his words. He sounding like he had something to do with it, and I said as much.

He just clicks his tongue at me. 'Such accusations,' he says. 'Unfounded, aren't they. Do you have any proof?'

I don't, not one in all the innumerable facts jam packed into my head.

'We were helping you,' he continues, but it is in the same tone as his other words, the same mocking tenor. 'We are helping you; improving me.'

'Improving me how?' I ask, curious and suspicious.

'Hmm…' He frowns. 'That's no good.' He shakes his head. 'Well kid, do you want your memories back?'

I hesitate. With the question just thrown at me like that, I wonder if I really do want them, really am willing to pay any cost for it (and what costs would those be anyway?) – because I can tell from the way he asks the question I'm not going to get those answers cheap. 'What's the catch?' I ask carefully.

'I wouldn't call it a catch.' But his eyes are gleaming as though there is. 'It's more…a necessity. After all, there's a process to everything, and to get your memories back…it's re-enactment.'

Following the footsteps of my life? 'I still don't understand,' I say. 'What do you know about me?'

'A lot.' He smirks. 'And nothing. You're the one with the knowledge.'

Lot of help that is. It annoys me. But this guy isn't exactly forthcoming with his answers and I know full well it's a lost cause.

'Well, you know a lost cause at least.' The smirk widens. 'Well, you're also smart enough to know you don't have much of a choice, right?'

I guess I am.

**.**

Walking through the forest that week hadn't left me with much to do, after having plotted my path and having encountered no problems at all. All I could do then was wander about who I was, where I'd come from. It had only been a week, but the lack of answers were driving me crazy.

So when someone offers me the chance to get them back, I'm all but ready to jump at the chance. Even though I've got all these facts in my head, not one of them is personal. Not one of them is meaningful – and meeting this guy at the entrance showed me that all the knowledge in the world couldn't plot the perfect course through somewhere.

And all that time trying to figure out where to go – wasn't I heading for Viridian to find my identity in the first place?

So no matter how suspicious the guy looks and sounds, I don't have much choice but to accept his words.

**.**

'Good.' He says. 'And don't worry; you'll understand everything in due time.'

I hope so. The lack of knowledge is even more frustrating when someone rubs it in every second.

'And, for now, here's what I can tell you.'

I perk up immediately…but it turns out he can't tell me much. I'm a Pokemon trainer apparently. I caught a few Pokemon. Eight of them apparently. Though he doesn't know what sorts of Pokemon they were…or he's lying and just saying that. It doesn't matter; I can't seem to get any answers out of him, and just by looking I can tell that a fist fight is going to end with me as the loser, big time.

'You'll have to go find them,' the guy says. 'They can help you.'

'Why?' I ask. Why would Pokemon be able to help me? Even if they were mine? Bonds were emotional attachments. Not neuronal.

'You'll find out in due time.' Those words again. 'That's something every trainer finds out on his own.'

That still doesn't sound like the whole story, but I'm getting used to this now. 'So I find these Pokemon I used to own, and then I'll have my memories back?' I ask. It sounds like a wild goose chase. The entire world is filled with Pokemon, and without any way of knowing what I owned – well, I can always go back to my original plan and find out my basic information from the police records of the Viridian City Police.

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'Make sure you find them in order,' the man said to me with a parting wave. 'Otherwise the scrambled result might be irreparable.'

He knew something more. He was involved, somehow. But involved in what? Conspiracy? Kidnapping? Just trying to help? I had trouble believing the last one, but he had given me a bit to go on. I wouldn't have thought to find out what human I had once owned if it hadn't been for his comments.

And I'd been right. The Viridian Police was easily able to find out my name, my basic details. Shou Ichimura: age sixteen, blood type B, born right here in Viridian City. Apparently I got my first Pokemon from Professor Oak in Pallet Town four years ago: a Charmander. I'd gone missing ten months ago, appearing again…well, now.

My Pokemon had disappeared with me. The Charmander who'd evolved into a Charizard. A Pikachu caught from the Viridian Forest. A Staryu caught from Cinnabar Island. A Rhyhorn from the Safari Zone. An Exeggutor from the Ilex Forest in Johto. A Sneasel from the Icy Cave. A Stantler from outside Ecruteak City. And a Scyther from Johto's Bug Catching Park, that had evolved into a Scizor not long after.

Not one of those names mean anything to me. It is a good balanced team, but that's all it is. Because I don't remember a thing about any of them. And none of these facts I've learnt mean anything either, because I don't remember a thing about me either.

I can either leave things as they are, or I can go looking. Looking for my memories, for each one of those memories, for each of those Pokemon. One. By. One.


End file.
